Federal judge Brack named Distinguished Resident

United States federal Judge Robert Brack sits behind the bench in the Guadalupe court, his courtroom at the U.S. District Court in Las Cruces. The judge named all eight courtrooms in the building after mountain ranges in New Mexico.(Photo: Jett Loe / Sun-News)Buy Photo

LAS CRUCES - It’s two days before Christmas, and U.S. federal Judge Robert Brack is hearing his final docket of 2015. Fourteen defendants — 11 men and three women — are seated in the Guadalupe Courtroom in U.S. District Court. It’s Wednesday morning, and each wears a blue or green jail jumpsuit and a set of headphones through which they hear a court translator. Each is shackled at the ankles, and wears handcuffs attached to a chain around his or her waist.

None of the defendants appearing before Brack today have ever been charged with a violent crime. Today, each pleads guilty to re-entry after deportation, a felony offense, and is released with time served. Each will be processed, taken to El Paso and released just south of the border.

“I’ve asked the question thousands of times,” Brack says to a man from Guatemala in his early thirties. “What brought you to the United States?”

“Work,” the man responds in Spanish. “Trying to provide for my family.”

Several times throughout the Dec. 23 proceedings, Brack refers to the morning’s hearings as a Christmas docket and expresses his gratitude to clerks who expedited the paperwork in order to release the defendants before Christmas.

Many will not be able to make it back to Guatemala, El Salvador, or Oaxaca, Mexico, before the holiday. Nevertheless, as each leaves his courtroom, he tells them in Spanish, “Vaya con Dios y Feliz Navidad.”

Brack has been selected as the Sun-News Distinguished Resident for 2015. This is the first year that the newspaper has presented the award, which is meant to recognize somebody whose work has made a significant impact in our community.

Buy Photo

United States federal Judge Robert Brack hears a lot of immigration cases in his U.S. District Court in Las Cruces. “I really do have a lot of empathy for the people that I see, because I’m a husband and a dad myself,” Brack said. “I’d like to think that I have the same courage and determination that they display in coming here to provide a better life for their families.”(Photo: Jett Loe / Sun-News)

A heavy caseload

Brack was appointed to the federal bench in 2003 by President George W. Bush. Prior to that, he had served as a state district judge in Clovis for six and a half years.

In recent years, he has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor — both of which called him “America’s busiest judge” — a distinction he rejects.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said, sitting in his chambers. “I’m probably not the busiest judge in this courthouse. By that one metric, sentencing, and because of where I am, the numbers are what they are. But that’s not indicative of how busy I am. My colleagues all work incredibly hard. The magistrate judges in this courthouse have handled the pleas on all of my cases, and all of the misdemeanor cases too. So calling me the busiest judge in America — it’s not true, it’s embarrassing, and it’s certainly not a moniker I’ve ever accepted.”

On average, a U.S. district judge hears about 100 cases a year. In 2015, Brack estimates he has heard 1,800 cases. The lion’s share of those are felony re-entry cases. On Dec. 22, Brack sentenced 18 cases during a morning docket, and another 18 that afternoon. In one day, Brack heard about one-third of the cases a U.S. district judge hears annually.

“When I got here in 2003, the El Paso Border Patrol sector — which runs from just east of El Paso to the Arizona state line — probably apprehended 150,000 people coming into the country without permission. Last year, that number was probably 10,000,” Brack said. “And yet the number of cases that we’ll handle in the New Mexico District this year is two or three times what we handled in ’03.”

The difference, Brack said, lies in the nation’s approach to immigration policy.

“In ’03, we prosecuted about 3 percent of those we caught. Now we prosecute 100 percent of those we catch,” he said.

Two years ago, a second district judge was added to help with the caseload. Ken Gonzales, then a U.S. attorney, was appointed by President Barack Obama.

“Theoretically, I thought my numbers would be cut in half,” Brack said. “However, in those two years, the numbers have gone up another 30 or 40 percent. As a result, I’ll do as many this year as I’ve ever done. Judge Gonzales, because of conflicts during his time as a U.S. attorney, will do about 1,400 cases this year. And we also have visiting judges come in once a month from all over the country — from Texas, Wyoming, California, and even the southern district of New York. We have a judge that comes from Manhattan to help with cases. Combined, those visiting judges will probably hear 1,000 cases. Do the math. That’s about 4,000 cases a year we’re trying in this building.”

Buy Photo

United States federal Judge Robert Brack reads over a brief in his office at the U.S. District Court, 100 N. Church St., in Las Cruces. Brack oversaw the construction of the federal courthouse from 2003 to 2010.(Photo: Jett Loe / Sun-News)

Showing empathy

With those kinds of numbers, it would be real easy to lose sight of the fact that each case — and each defendant — is unique, each with his or her own story to tell.

“When I first came here, I had no immigration background. As a state judge, I didn’t deal with immigration. So I didn’t know what I was going to see,” Brack said. “The much-storied criminal element that pours across the border — you know, ‘they’re murderers and rapists’ — it isn’t true. I may have seen 16,000 people in my courtroom since I’ve been here, and in a population that size I’ve certainly seen some bad people, a handful. Most of the people I’ve seen are poor people with little education who have families they need to provide for. They’re hard-working people trying to provide the best possible life for their families.”

Brack said the defendants he sees are no different than the immigrants who have come to America for generations — “and they’re doing what we’ve allowed, and at times encouraged, and at times asked them to come here and do — which is to help us with our labor needs.”

“I really do have a lot of empathy for the people that I see, because I’m a husband and a dad myself,” Brack said. “I’d like to think that I have the same courage and determination that they display in coming here to provide a better life for their families.”

Brack said the national conversation surrounding immigration too seldom reflects the reality he sees in his courtroom each day.

“I understand that if people’s sense of immigration is obtained from just the angry shouting that passes for dialogue in our country today, they’ll think I’m insane,” Brack said. “But that doesn’t matter to me. I know what I know.”

Brack said he sees dangerous people in his courtroom from time to time, and that they are dealt with “in a very different manner” than the bulk of immigration cases that come before him.

As for the illegal re-entry cases, Brack says he worries about them.

“These migrants that we released today, they’ll just be deposited at the border,” Brack said. “They’re walked across the bridge. And they’re standing there without a dollar in their wallets. And they have to get to Oaxaca. I worry about them. I actually worry about how they’re going to get home.”

It drove Brack to research Grupo Beta, a service of Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, which he frequently mentions to the migrants appearing before him.

“That’s just part of treating people with dignity, and trying to walk across that bridge in their shoes,” Brack said.

A family man

Brack, now 62, is the son of a Santa Fe Railroad man who spent his early years moving around the country. He was born in California, moved to Chicago as a child, and the family settled in Clovis when Robert was in middle school. He graduated high school there, then attended Eastern New Mexico University. While working on his undergraduate degree, he got engaged and married his wife, Sheila, before going on to law school at the University of New Mexico.

“On April 1, 1972, we went on our first date. And that,” Brack said, pointing to a photo of Sheila on his desk, “that’s the vision of sunshine and light who just lit up the room. That’s that vision right there.”

Together, they have three daughters.

“My dad is an amazing guy,” said Katy Brack Morrow. “He is someone who takes his faith incredibly seriously, and his family incredibly seriously. Outside the courtroom, you’ll find him hanging out around the pool with his grandkids, golfing with his friends, or washing the windows somewhere.”

Very often, Judge Brack is forced to split up a family. Because he takes the time to understand each defendant’s personal situation, it’s a detail that is never lost on him.

“I used to have a sort of emotional Teflon, and could shake it off at the end of the day, but that’s getting harder to do,” Brack said. “It’s as though the cumulative weight of it all has made it harder to do that.”

“It tortures him,” said Morrow. “It’s something that weighs on him, every single day. He is fairly consistently upset about that when he comes home each night. It’s really been eye-opening for all of us. Ninety percent of what you hear about immigration and border issues is simply not the case.”

A man of faith

Judge Brack is very active in his church, where for 11 years he has taught an adult couples’ Bible study on Wednesday evenings.

It’s clear that his faith informs the way he carries out his duties on the bench. Les Smith, a retired magistrate district judge whom Brack describes as a mentor, said Brack’s service is inseparable from his Christian faith.

“I really believe that he saw that appointment as a calling,” Smith said. “It has never been a job to him. It’s something that God called him to do. And he does it with humility. He’s humble, he listens, and he treats every case as an individual.”

Mike Cheney, Las Cruces market president of WestStar Bank and chairman of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents, is a golfing buddy of Brack’s.

“Based on the conversations we’ve had, I can tell he’s truly upset when people have to suffer,” Cheney said. “He understands that there are laws that have to be enforced, but also understands that they have real effects on people. Bob is a man of tremendous faith, and is one of those rare people that is always very distinguished. He’s just a rock-solid nice guy.”

“My dad sees no distinction between himself and the janitors at the courthouse,” Morrow said. “He knows everybody that he comes into contact with. He knows everyone’s name, and he’s genuinely concerned for them. The reason he’s been able to glean so many stories from the people he’s sentencing is because of a genuine curiosity.”

On Dec. 23, 14 defendants appeared before Brack, and he took time to visit with each one. Their stories were all different, but all had come to America in search of better opportunities, in search of a better life.

“He’s personable, on and off the bench,” Smith said. “He looks like a human up there, not just someone counting the cases as they go by. Having been there myself, on the bench for 14 years, you have to remember every defendant is a person. Even when it begins to feel routine to you, this is one of the most important things that has happened in their life.”

Buy Photo

The United States District Court in Las Cruces rises above the downtown neighborhoods.(Photo: Jett Loe / Sun-News)

The house that Brack built

“My second day on the job, I was in the Runnels building, right next door,” said Brack. “One of my colleagues from Santa Fe walked into the office and plopped down a bunch of construction plans on my desk and said, ‘You’re in charge.’”

Brack did not know then that a new courthouse was in the works. Just to the north of the Harold Runnels Federal Building was a two-acre parking lot. On it, Brack was charged with overseeing the construction of the federal courthouse, at 100 N. Church St., that contains his courtroom and chambers today.

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I couldn’t build a doghouse.’ He said, ‘You don’t have to build it, you just have to manage it.’”

Every day, from that day in July 2003 to July 2010, Brack worked on that project.

For seven years, Brack would preside over his docket, then put on his work boots and head next door to oversee the project.

“I had a hand in every detail, and every decision,” Brack said. “I love the building. I’m very proud of it, and it’s like a fourth child. Lawyers and judges don’t build stuff. We don’t see the work of our hands.”

Brack told the contractor, “You guys will build hundreds of buildings in your career. I’m only building one.”

And he took great pride in it.

“I’d look at the plans. I’d climb up the crane. At one point I drove the crane,” Brack said. “I had a ball. And I loved it.”

On the golf course

Outside of the courtroom, Brack tries to golf as often as he can. When asked what he’s proudest of, he’s quick to reply, “Not my golf score.”

Friends he plays with describe him as competitive, but even-tempered.

“You can tell a lot about people when you play golf with them,” Cheney said. “Bob keeps his composure, and doesn’t get caught up in each shot.”

Gary Lenzo, a retired Las Cruces banker, frequently travels with Brack to play golf across the Southwest.

“He’s a pretty regular guy, but his integrity sets him apart,” Lenzo said. “Despite having to be objective in the courtroom, he’s got an enormous heart. And I think that makes him a better judge. He just gives off a real sense of integrity.”

That Brack is able to golf at all is a triumph in its own respect. Brack took up the sport after a three-year bout with encephalitis, which began in 1983.

"The fact that he’s on the golf course says a lot about him," Morrow said. "He has had two hip replacements and back fusion surgery in the last 10 years."

Brack said he's grateful that he's able to play a few rounds a week pain-free.

Lenzo also described Brack as a great storyteller.

“There are just some people with a knack for telling stories, and Bob’s got that. Sometimes, as the years go on, we hear the same ones again,” Lenzo laughed. “It’s gotten to the point that he’ll begin a story with, ‘I may have told you this before,’ or ‘Stop me if you’ve heard this one.’”

In a couple years, Brack will be eligible to retire, or go on senior status. He says he’s not sure what he’ll do when that time comes. He has considered staying on the bench, but has also thought about doing missionary work in Mexico.

Those who know Brack best will tell you that it will probably depend on where he feels he can make the biggest difference.